Class action certified in B.C. against maker of flushable wipes

Jul 01, 2023

B.C. Supreme Court allows personal injury class lawsuit after bacterial contamination

The Supreme Court of B.C. has certified a class-action lawsuit against Kimberly-Clark, the maker of flushable wipes and many other products.

According to a ruling by Justice Sharon Matthews, Kimberly-Clark began an investigation in August 2020 into consumer complaints that some flushable wipes made at its facility in South Carolina smelled bad.

“It investigated the cause of a three-month upward trend in consumer complaints about odours in flushable wipes,” Matthews wrote.

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“In September 2020, Kimberly-Clark stopped production on Line 2 of the Beech Island production facility. It found P. gergoviae (bacteria) in some wipes produced on that line and found that a sanitization cabinet used on Line 2 had occasionally malfunctioned after it was rebuilt in early 2020.”

All wipes sold by retailers in Canada come from the Beach Island facility.

That month, the company recalled wipes that came from Line 2 between Feb. 7 and Sept. 14, 2020. This included just over 1.8 million wipes distributed in Canada.

According to court records, a B.C. woman, Linda Bowman, purchased some of those wipes in July 2020 from Costco. Bowman alleges that she used them several times a day on various parts of her body and developed inflamed hair follicles and sores in her pubic region.

Bowman was the representative plaintiff seeking certification of the class action over the bacterial-contaminated wipes with bacteria and later recalled by the company.

Kimberly-Clark opposed the certification, saying that as soon as it became aware of the contamination the company recalled the items, refunded costs and settled claims for personal injury. In Canada there were 11,651 refunds issued for a total $214,290. Kimberly-Clark received 149 claims for personal injury in Canada.

Kimberly-Clark “asserts that the efforts it made and expenses it has incurred to do so address the goals of class proceedings — access to justice, efficient use of judicial resources, and behaviour modification — more effectively than certifying this class action will,” Matthews wrote.

A medical expert hired by Kimberly-Clark challenged Bowman’s affidavit and said that he could not determine that the flushable wipes caused the symptoms she described because she has not been tested for P. gergoviae and was not diagnosed with a medical condition as a result of using the flushable wipes.

A medical expert hired by Bowman stated P. gergoviae had the potential to cause serious infections and contaminated products were not fit for human use.

Matthews ruled that a class action in the personal injury subclass was certified and could proceed.

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